Thanks

Well I am a bit late with this blog because of a couple of excuses. The first excuse is that I was away all weekend with some friends from church, and the second is that I am busy trying to write an application for a promotion!

As stated, I was away last weekend on a little retreat. There was only 21 of us ladies, but though small in number, it was a big one of fun and friendship. The weekend of course had a spiritual theme, but the best part was that I didn’t have to cook, I got to relax and enjoy the company of old and new friends and we had a lot of old fashioned fun. For the last couple of years I have been the organiser of the activities. I am usually given some sort of direction of where it is supposed to go, but this year my brief was let’s just have some fun, and that is what I did. It was interesting though as I was dealing with a very different group of people to what I deal with on a daily basis. My “class” was from age 25 – 75! A little bit different to my teenagers. What isn’t strange though is that the games we played work well with all ages.

One of the favourite activities that the ladies enjoyed was Inside Outside Circle. I use this game in class with my students to review content. With my older friends I had get to know you type questions that they asked each other. This game is a Kagan Strategy and it is great for all sorts of reasons. It is simple – make two circles one on the inside facing out and one around the outside facing in. This should have all people opposite someone. Each person has a question/answer on their card. For class I might use Music symbols, Music Terms or even spelling words; for the ladies, as I said before they were open ended questions to get to know one another. In the circles each person asks the person opposite their question, if it is for review, I tell the students that if the other can’t answer tell them the answer then ask them to repeat the answer, then ask again. Once both questions have been asked the students swap cards say goodbye and one of the circles moves. Repeat until everyone gets back to their original partner.

Another favourite activity was Mime the Line. Now I just have to say that the ladies were simply hilarious with this one. I use this game a lot in class with good results, but the ladies just took the cake, we were literally wetting ourselves with laughter. So for this one, divide the group into two groups. One group sits and watches while the others Mime the Line. I tell the first person to Mime something, we used getting ready for bed and the other one was going shopping. Now the best thing for this is to have the first person be very detailed in their mime, it makes for it harder to remember and funnier results. So the line all faces away from the mime. The first person taps the second on the shoulder, they perform the mime and then the second taps the third and performs, etc.. until it gets to the end. The last person then has to guess the mime. Now at this point I usually get the first person to perform theirs again before telling them the answer. They don’t get it right very often! The ladies seemed to add to the mime rather than forget, so the results were very entertaining. There are lots of variations on this theme, but do try it, it’s a lot of fun.

As I said, the second reason I am late is that I am preparing an application for a promotion. This always takes time, and I think I am just about finished. This time the process is new to what I am used to and even my Principal is a little unsure of exactly what is expected! Oh well ,if it is meant to be, it is meant to be. I usually get to interview, then I seem to have verbal diarrhea and say way too much at the speed of light, nerves I suppose.

Lastly I want to say thank you to all those who purchased products at the Teachers Pay Teacher 3 Million Teachers Sale. It was a very successful one for me, and I know it will fund some more things for the Musical – hoping it was enough for me to buy the wood for the students to make a platform for the stage!

Until next week, have a good one

Julia from Jooya

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I am a wife, mother, daughter, friend and High School Music Teacher.
I have an understanding husband, two grown up children and one cat.
I love the country life, especially as I can look out my back door and enjoy a beautiful view of cows ansd pasture. What is even better is that I enjoy the view without the cost! It's my neighbours' property.
I am a classically trained Opera singer, but very rarely sing in that style. I love singing and will gladly sing at the drop of a hat. I play the guitar, although strictly rhythm these days, no solos, and enjoy my Tuesday night African drumming class down the road - it is great therapy!
I love working with my students to help them see the best in themselves. I love my job and actually enjoy creating resources for my students.